Lost in the Frame (Free subscription) | 07/21/2008
Paul Frankeur, Delphine Seyrig, Fernando Rey, Bulle Ogier, Stéphane Audran, and Jean-Pierre Cassel in The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie [Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie] (dir. Luis Buñuel, 1972). June 14th is Bloody Sergeant Day! I'm marking that on my calendar from now on. Structurally, this resembles nothing so much as a loosely-connected string of Monty Python skits. The humor is more muted,...
DVD Times (Free subscription) | 05/11/2008
DVD Video Review: In 1938, a put-upon cop in an small African village turns killer in Coup de Torchon, the third of five films directed by Bertrand Tavernier released by Optimum. Review by Gary Couzens, including a comparison with the Criterion edition.
Stephanie's Pillowbook (Free subscription) | 05/06/2008
Some time ago I was tagged by Marion - to come up with “eight random facts/habits about” myself. I decided to list eight of my favourite television programmes. 1) I don't really share the rosy-tinged nostalgia for ’70s sitcoms common among my generation. There were a few good ones, though - Dad's Army, for instance, was [...]
Moon in the Gutter (Free subscription) | 04/26/2008
Despite having the admittedly remarkable cast of Alain Delon, Ornella Muti, Stephane Audran, Mireille Darc, Maurice Ronet and Klaus Kinski, Georges Lautner’s 1978 thriller Mort d'un Pourri (Death Of A Corrupt Man) isn't as noteworthy as it might seem. The Cesar nominated film, despite some intriguing and powerful moments, finally falls a bit flat due to an overly convoluted script and some downright...
The House Next Door (Free subscription) | 03/28/2008
By Kevin B. Lee [Editor's Note: These are the latest entries in House contributor Kevin B. Lee's Shooting Down Pictures, a record of his ongoing quest to see every title on the list of the 1000 Greatest Films compiled by They Shoot Pictures, Don't They']_____________________ Perhaps I am willfully misreading through Bunuelian lenses, but I love how Claude Chabrol’s wicked and ultimately haunting
Shooting Down Pictures (Free subscription) | 03/27/2008
screened Wednesday March 6 2008 on Pathfinder DVD in Weehawken NJ TSPDT rank #813 IMDb Arguably the most celebrated of Chabrol’s fifty-plus features is this romantic drama involving a rough but earnest butcher (Jean Yanne) and a lovely but aloof schoolmistress (Stephane Audran) amidst a series of unsolved murders afflicting their idyllic French village. I [...]
Shooting Down Pictures (Free subscription) | 03/27/2008
IMDb Wikipedia One of the stable of Cahiers du cinéma critics, Chabrol inaugurated the New Wave with Le Beau Serge (1957), Les Cousins (1958) and Les Bonnes Femmes (1960). Like other early New Wave films, these were characterized by independent production, location shooting, new stars (Jean-Claude Brialy, Stéphane Audran) and a focus on a young, [...]
I'm in a Jess Franco State of Mind (Free subscription) | 02/28/2008
The balloon man at the site of the psychedelic climax of LA RUPTURE. "What an utter darkness suddenly surrounds me!" from PHAEDRA by Jean Racine Darkness is not only visible in Claude Chabrol's LA RUPTURE, it's the seemingly normal state of being in the land of the European bourgeoisie... yes, it's the bourgeoisie again. The camera is pressed up against the bark of a tree in a middle class area of...
Moon in the Gutter (Free subscription) | 02/28/2008
I recently caught back up with Claude Chabrol's 1970 feature Le Boucher ( The Butcher ), a film often considered among the great directors finest but one that has never been one of my favorites. While I still wouldn't rank the film among my desert island Chabrol flics, it is still very obviously the work of a master in his prime and I find that my appreciation for it has grown since my first viewing...
Stephanie's Pillowbook (Free subscription) | 12/10/2007
Last week I was tagged by Marion - now I’ve got come up with “eight random facts/habits about” myself. Sometime in the summer Emma tagged me with something similar. Now it has come round a second time I guess I’d better do as I’ve been asked! It's not easy coming up with eight trivialities that [...]
